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Security forces inspect the remains of the car bomb (AP)
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| By Associated Press December 13, 2004 |
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| Debris from the explosion (AP) |
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A Hamas activist survived a bombing Monday that destroyed his vehicle on a Damascus street shortly after he and his family stepped out, the Palestinian militant group said.
Hamas and the Syrian government blamed Israeli intelligence agents for the 3:45 p.m. (1345 GMT) explosion that slightly injured three passers-by and shattered the windows of several nearby apartments.
Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan said a bomb placed under the seat of the vehicle exploded minutes after the Palestinian driver, his wife and daughter stepped out.
"The party behind this collaborates with the Israeli Mossad, or is the Mossad itself," he said on Syrian television, referring to Israeli intelligence agency. His comments were carried by Syria's official SANA news agency.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas' deputy political bureau leader, said the vehicle belonged to a Palestinian member of Hamas. He would not give his name or position in the movement.
Asked whether Israel was behind the attack, Abu Marzouk replied: "You can say that."
A senior Israeli official said he knew nothing of the incident but noted that Syria always blames Israel for acts on its territory.
Israeli security officials did claim responsibility for a Sept. 26 car bombing in Damascus that killed Hamas leader Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil and wounded three bystanders. That attack came more than three weeks after twin suicide bombings in southern Israel that killed 16 Israelis.
Monday's explosion came a day after Palestinian militants detonated 1.5 tons of explosives on an Israeli army outpost on the Gaza-Egypt border, killing five soldiers and wounding five. Hamas said it had dug an 800-meter (yard)-long tunnel over four months to reach the outpost. It and gunmen with ties to the ruling Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hamas, whose top political leaders have their headquarters in Damascus, has carried out numerous suicide bombings and killed hundreds of Israelis. In addition to Hamas, other militant and radical Palestinian guerrilla groups have set up headquarters in Damascus. Syria is also home to 450,000 Palestinian refugees.
Kenaan, the Syrian interior minister, said three passers-by were lightly injured in Monday's explosion.
A security official at the scene said a passer-by was injured in the leg in the explosion. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
Workers from a nearby gas station helped put out the fire in the car. Police arrived at the scene and the vehicle was towed away less than an hour later and municipal workers cleared the street of any debris.
"It sounded and felt like an earthquake," said Deeb Mahfouz, 57, who lives on the first floor of an apartment building next to where the vehicle was parked. "There were screams on the street. We thought that an old house across the street collapsed. Then I saw smoke shooting up from the car."
"I was studying when I heard the explosion and went out to look," area resident Urwa Shatti, 14, said. "Then I saw a man being hauled into a taxi cab with injuries."
Wooden doors were blown off their frames and the windows were shattered in Rihab Abbas's residence next to the explosion. "The car was completely smashed," the 28-year-old housewife said, adding that she helped by providing the men with water to try to extinguish the fire.
Another witness, 25-year-old Anas Mawlawi, said his 40-year-old aunt who lives in one of the buildings suffered cuts from flying glass. He would not give her name.
The explosion, the third in the Syrian capital this year, was the second in Mazzah neighborhood.
On April 27, assailants detonated a bomb under a car and then opened fire on security forces. Two gunmen, a policeman and a civilian passer-by were killed in the 90-minute gunbattle.
The Syrian government initially called the clash a terrorist attack -- a rarity in this tightly controlled country. But officials later said the attack was a homegrown, isolated incident, backing away from suggestions that international terrorists were responsible.
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